culture

Voices of Concerned Educators: The Twilight Zone and How Affluence Perpetuates the Achievement Gap [C. Marquez]

by C. Marquez 03.24.2010

“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the sign post up ahead, your next stop…The Twilight Zone!” ~Rod Serling As an elementary school administrator, I currently work in the Twilight Zone. This environment [...]

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Notes from The Black and Latino Males in High School Forum

by Jose 12.03.2009

On November 24th, 2009 at around 9am, I had the distinct pleasure of going to the NYU Metropolitan Center Policy for Urban Education Educational Forum. The topic was “How are Black and Latino males faring in our high schools?” hosted and moderated by Dr. Pedro Noguera, professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development [...]

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Industry Rule #4082: Rule #4080 Applies to Education, Too

by Jose 08.31.2009

I wonder how inactive and paralyzing it is to the school system when, superficially, we exude some form of pleasantry and quietness that many may mistake for some sort of sterility, at least on the part of the relationships within the building. For those who’ve had any experience within a school, I’m here to quasi-report [...]

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The Sounds of Quisqueya Call Me Right Back

by Jose 05.19.2009

Today, Raquel Cepeda linked me to a post about Dominican-Haitian relations that she wrote on her blog, and for those of you who know me, you know I had to jump on that quickly. Most of you know my story already: Dominican mom, Haitian father, grew up conflicted about my identity and how people sought [...]

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Mr. Boombastic (or A Profile on Santiago)

by Jose 12.10.2008

My first interaction with Santiago’s artwork came on MySpace, the social network where rock stars, porn stars, wannabe musicians and groupies, and the rest of us converge under one buggy but rather influential hub for the most random of reasons. There, someone had a pretty interesting profile picture. It had a lady with headphones, with [...]

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A-Rod Can Haz Dominican Culture Now?

by Jose 12.08.2008

Back in July of 2005, the World Baseball Classic committees were just getting their international rosters, and most people stuck to their countries of origin, as stipulated by the rules. With 16 teams in the competition, many of us baseball fans almost salivated to the chin being able to watch these all-stars playing on the [...]

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That Damn Etiquette

by Jose 05.14.2008

When I read about the recent arrest of the infamous “Soulja Girl” (synopsis: she harassed an old lady on Atlanta’s metro train system, and the video got viral. for more info, watch here), I applauded. No really, I applauded all by myself in front of my computer. This was a situation that shows, really, the [...]

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Gentrifuckation (part 1)

by Jose 02.20.2008

Every morning, this is what my walk to the train station looks like: That thing I circled is The Ludlow. At first, it doesn’t look too obstructive … Then, as I start to walk down Houston St., I realize how much it blocks my damn sunlight, the energy I feed off of every morning. It [...]

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Truth Said In Jest

by Jose 02.19.2008

Things to Keep In Mind When Attending a Movie / Play:1. Please turn off your cell phone when you come in the theater. I mean, as soon as. Especially if you know you have one of those annoying ringtones of some random celebrity telling you to pick up the phone. Morons who violate will tempt [...]

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Ewing and I

by Jose 01.31.2008

An idol.The biggest of superstars. A warrior and a man all the same. That sweet fade-away. The sweat-drenched NY Knicks jersey, emblazoned with the number 33 in the back. The custom sneakers. The Georgetown alum with 2 gold medals, part of the historic Dream Team, 11-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year from 1985-86, sure Hall [...]

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